


They Tasted of Light and Hope

by ezekiels



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-09 15:17:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5544866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ezekiels/pseuds/ezekiels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey and Finn reunite.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They Tasted of Light and Hope

**Author's Note:**

> betaed by [snowyreid](http://snowyreid.tumblr.com/) and [elvesarebad](http://elvesarebad.tumblr.com). written for [lindaparkwest](http://lindaparkwest.tumblr.com/).

Rey could only think of one thing as she looked down at Finn: holding him. She imagined burying her face against his neck, breathing him in, and holding him as tightly as she could. Looking at him now, she could hardly remember what his skin felt like. How exactly had their hands fitted together? Their bodies when they had hugged one another at the Starkiller Base? She couldn’t remember and she hated it.

Hated Kylo Ren. Hated the First Order. Hated that Finn was lying there, barely moving. She wanted him to hold her hand, not just hold his. It wasn’t the same.

Her eyes stung with repressed tears as she pressed her lips against his forehead because it wasn’t enough –but there wasn’t any time. The First Order was out there. Kylo Ren was out there.

Luke Skywalker was out there.

She turned away. It almost broke her to do so.

- 

The next time Rey saw Finn, he was climbing out of an X-wing fighter.

“Not so fast!” Poe shouted after him with a laugh in his voice. “You’d think someone had lit a fire under your-”

“Rey!” Finn’s feet hit the ground. He winced, as if it hurt him, but he didn’t stop. He ran in a desperate limp towards her. “Rey!”

She was running too, leaving Luke, Chewbacca, and R2-D2 behind her. She wasn’t sure when she’d started. Had it been the moment she’d seen Finn in the X-wing? When their eyes had first met? When he first shouted her name?

She didn’t care.

It didn’t matter.

She ran. Down the stone steps, across the grass, and straight into his arms. She collided with him with such force that her feet went flying out from under her. Finn twisted her around to keep them from falling but the force caused him to cry out in pain.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she said, beginning to pull away. Was he hurt? Could Luke help?

Finn pulled her closer. “I’m fine. I’m fine. Rey...” He sighed her name, the warmth in his voice making her melt into him. “Rey.”

She held him. He held her. Held her as she had wanted ever since she found him in the snow. He was warm and alive and breathing in her arms and it was better than all the dreams, all the imagining.

She buried her face into his neck. “I’ve missed you.”

-

They sat before the ocean on a slab of rock that jutted out toward the rolling waves. By the time they had pulled apart from their hug, Poe and Luke had been in the middle of an intense discussion. Their faces had been a mix of seriousness and a lightness only old friends could have. Seeing them, Chewbacca had shooed them away.

On the island, of all the islands, this particular spot was her favourite. She could dangle her legs off the edge and swing them into nothing while she leaned back, greenery framing the side of her vision. Now, as there had not been months ago when she had arrived, there were delicate white flowers blooming amongst the greenery. They shone silver in the light.

It was peaceful. Calming, even. The sound of waves. The rustle of wind through the greenery. So different from Jakku. It was part of the reason she loved it.

She loved it even more with Finn there. Finn made anywhere feel like it could be a home.

“What are you doing here?” she asked. It had been ten minutes since they’d pulled apart from one another and she still hadn’t stopped crying. Her voice was thick with it.

Finn was crying too. “What am  _I_  doing here? What are  _you_  doing here? I woke up and you were gone!” The words burst from him and he turned to her guiltily, as if he might have scared her. He reached out and took her hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to shout.”

It was such a Finn thing to say. Before him, very few people had ever cared enough how she felt to apologize. She reached out and pulled him into another hug. She was gentler this time, burying her face into his neck and breathing him in. She coughed. “You smell awful.”

“You don’t smell all that wonderful either.” The way he said it, you’d think it was a compliment.

“That's because I've been learning to use the Force.”

“Well, I’ve been crossing half the universe to find you. Without a map.”

A watery laugh escaped Rey because knowing that meant everything. Yes, what he had done was reckless. Reckless enough that his injury might never heal right. But she didn’t care. He was in her arms. He was alive and in her arms and she needed him. Training with Luke, she’d realized just how much.

Luke had helped her realize vengeance was not the way and that what she wanted, what she really wanted, was peace. Peace so that Finn didn’t have to run anymore. Peace so that he would stay. Rey remembered Luke smiling when she’d realized. She hadn’t needed to tell him a thing. He’d just known.

“Rey?”

“Hmm?”

“I’ve missed you too.”

She smiled against his neck and it was just…too much. Too much in all the right ways.

She brought her hand up to his neck, pulling away just enough to kiss his cheek. She let her lips linger, she couldn’t bring herself to do anything else. “Thank you,” she whispered against his cheek.

“For what?”

She rested her face against the side of his. “For flying half way across the universe to find me.”

“Of course,” Finn said, as if any other option was unthinkable. As if he couldn’t imagine anyone doing anything else.

She brought her other hand up so she could cradle his head and kissed his cheek again, firm and full of everything inside her. Warmth and joy and light. She kissed his forehead and his eyes, his other cheek and his nose. She would have passed over his mouth without lingering –she still meant to kiss his chin and his jaw– but he pulled her closer when her lips touched his.

Kissing him was gentle. Gentle and absolutely sincere. He poured his whole being into her lips, just as she had been pouring her own into his cheeks, forehead, eyes, and nose.

He tasted of light.

Later beneath the stars, as they lay in each other’s arms, he told her she tasted of hope. They fell asleep to the sound of Luke and Poe’s voices and the silent understanding that they were loved.


End file.
